SAIL Media

SAIL Media

The best Chinese open-weight models — and the strongest US rivals

The Understanding AI guide to open-weight models.

Kai Williams
Dec 16, 2025
∙ Paid
This post originally appeared in Understanding AI.

“Today, Qwen alone is roughly matching the entire American open-model ecosystem.”

DeepSeek’s release of R1 in January shocked the world. It came just …

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to SAIL Media to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2026 SAIL media, LLC · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture